


Resurrection

by notyouranswer (gorgeouschaos)



Series: Defined by Echo [5]
Category: The Magnus Archives (Podcast)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Gen, Jon as an avatar of the End, Resurrection, Temporary Character Death, several times
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-20
Updated: 2020-04-20
Packaged: 2021-03-02 01:55:06
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 724
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23747164
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/gorgeouschaos/pseuds/notyouranswer
Summary: “What is it like to die, Archivist?”(Jonathan Sims has died more than thirty times by the time Elias tries to end the world. It probably should bother him.)
Relationships: Jonathan Sims & Tim Stoker
Series: Defined by Echo [5]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1646350
Comments: 31
Kudos: 295





	Resurrection

**Author's Note:**

> Um. That phrase popped into my head and wouldn't leave me alone, so here we are.  
> Thanks for reading, hope you like it, and I love kudos/comments!

Jon dies for the first time when no one stops him from knocking on Mr. Spider’s door. 

It doesn’t stick. Neither do the webs.

The Web, incredulous-- and perhaps scared-- allows the terrified boy to leave. 

And begins to plan.

The EMTs shock Jon’s heart back into motion after it stops mid worm-removal. Elias frowns, his ancient eyes searching his unconscious Archivist’s face for any sign of--

\--of something.

He doesn’t find it, whatever it is. He elects to proceed with his plans.

(Wherever she is in the End, Gertrude Robinson begins to laugh.)

Michael’s hands slice Jon open. It scars, just like his mind does. Jon dies from blood loss and jolts back to life in the arms of a fiercely protective Tim. 

Jon, shocky and so very, very tired, tells him everything.

And Tim tells him about Danny.

(Wherever she is-- which is everywhere-- Annabelle Cain begins to laugh.)

Jude burns Jon alive. When he wakes up screaming, only his hand has sustained third degree burns. The rest of them are only first-degree.

(He thinks of Gerard and laughs until he can’t stop the tears.)

He goes to Tim’s flat. Tim sighs and hauls out his increasingly well-stocked first-aid kid.

Jon asphyxiates on Michael Crew’s carpet. Neither of them notice.

Nikola’s knife goes a little too deep. She assumes the stop-start of Jon’s heart is normal for humans and does it again. Again. And again. And again.

(Jon, resurrected for the twenty-seventh time, begins to realize.)

“What is it like to die, Archivist?” Michael asks, his eyes glinting. “I used to dream of it, you know. Before I finished becoming what I was always meant to be.”

Jon opens his mouth intending to lie. Instead, he says, “It’s lonely.”

Michael laughs, and laughs, and when he finds his door locked, his laughter is exactly the same.

It’s a dying man’s laugh and always has been.

(Jon’s heard it on Tim’s tongue, too.)

(Tim and Jon, back to back in a hotel bed, the night before the Unknowing.

“I won’t let you die,” Jon says. 

“Try and stop me,” Tim says. 

Jon says nothing else.

_What is it like to die, Archivist?_

Cold. Empty. Identical and antithetical to life.

Jon isn't going to let Tim find out.)

Jon can’t see everything, but he can see the ribbons of death trailing off Nikola like banners from an army, and that’s enough. 

He tackles Tim, wraps himself around his friend, and presses the button. 

_What is it like to die, Archivist?_

Searingly hot. Loud. Flesh and muscle burning off of bone that’s turning to ash. 

(He’s been burned to death before. It’s worse the second time around.)

It’s worth it. 

Jon wakes up slung over Tim’s shoulder. 

Peter Lukas walks into the Institute and thinks, _This wasn’t the deal, Elias._

Melanie stabs Jon and Basira both. The knife severs Jon’s femoral artery. Jon blinks back to life to the rare and surprisingly reassuring sound of Basira cursing as she presses her hands over his wound. 

Jon stares down Jared Hopworth when the Flesh attacks and only loses a rib. He dies from a ruptured lung and wakes up on the cot in the Archives with Martin, Tim, and Basira staring down at him.

Jon stares down the Buried when he goes after Daisy and only loses a little more of his mind.

Jon stares into a dark sun and only smiles.

When Jon goes after Martin, he rips Peter Lukas’ story from his lips and leaves him for dead. 

Jon finds Martin easily enough. The Lonely is remarkably similar to the End, really, and Jon--

_What is it like to die, Archivist?_

\--Jon knows the End. 

When Jon comes back to life, his skin is cold and he coughs up blood. But Martin is right beside him, his hand warm in Jon’s, and Tim appears to have shot Elias. 

As it turns out, Elias really should have paid attention to the look in Jon’s eyes when his heart restarted. 

_What is it like to die, Archivist?_

Jon smiles with blood-stained teeth and turns away from the body of a man who just found out.

(Oliver Banks smiles grimly and turns away.

Let his replacement have his moment of victory. 

There will be a price to be paid soon enough.

There is always, always, a price.)


End file.
